VLC on Android

A lot of people are asking about the status of VLC media player on Android. We usually answered that we are working on it. Now that some good progresses has been done, lets look at the current status of VLC media player for Android.

Current status

After two months of work, VLC media player is working quite well on Android based systems. The project still requires a lot of work before any release but we now know that running VLC media player on Android is achievable.

At the moment VLC media player was mainly tested in the Android emulator, on a Nexus One, a Nexus S and an HTC Desire. As soon as we have a beta version we will ask every people who want to test the application to test it and to report any issue they encounter. This way we will be able to validate VLC media player on different phones and tablets.

Current work

We are currently mainly working on two parts: the video output and the audio output. These two modules are needed by VLC to render decoded images on the screen and to output sound.

Video output

The video output developed by Adrien Maglo (alias Magsoft) is now able to output video directly into an OpenGL surface. This is the second video output module created by Adrien for VLC on Android. This second version is able to run on any version of Android and not only Gingerbread (2.3) but is a bit less efficient. This trade of is very important because few phones and tablets are running Android Gingerbread at the moment.

Just two screenshots that show VLC decoding and drawing a trailer of Mr and Mrs Smith (h264 avc1 and MPEG AAC) on my Nexus One:

Audio output

A first audio output module was developed by Dominique Martinet (alias Asmadeus). This module was based on OpenSL ES which is quit convenient and efficient but OPENSL ES is only available on Android 2.3. This is the reason why we decided to write a new audio output module that might work on any Android devices regardless of the version.

For this reason, I (Rémi Duraffort, alias ivoire) am developing a second audio output module for every Android versions. The work is barely started so we cannot show you any video at the moment.

To be done

Improving the Video output

The video output must be improved to handle some specials cases like the rotation of the device or the power saving mode (and many more).

Some work must also be done to improve handling of the aspect ratio and rendering performance.

Audio output

As said before, the next goal is to finish the audio output module to handle audio correctly. This module requires some work to be able to output audio for any Android version.

Graphical User Interface

As you saw in the screenshots, the GUI was only made to help us testing both the audio and video output modules. Before any beta version, we must create a nice GUI that allows users to select the right media or stream to play. We will work on this task as soon as the audio and video output work well.

Porting libraries

VLC media player is relying on a set of libraries for a lot of functions like decoding, encoding, getting meta-datas (id3 tags), ...

To enable these functionalities we must port the underlying libraries to Android based devices. This work is not began yet but as for now we already have a lot of libraries (like FFmpeg) that allows us to decode many formats like: mpeg, h264, mp4 or ogg. So this task does not have priority.

Optimizations

The last task is to improve VLC media player performance by optimizing it for the devices it will run on. Every Android devices uses ARM processors which imply some specific optimizations that are currently not activated. Some devices also provide ARM NEON instructions that VLC can use to speedup decoding.

Summary

As a conclusion, you can notice that VLC media player on Android is working quite well. Anyway we are not ready to release a version until some months because we want something stable and nice to use. Be patient, we are working on it, even if this job is only done on our free time.

I will write another article when some interesting news about VLC and Android come out.

Hiho,
I'm happy about that fact, that VLC will be released for android devices!!

since 2 months I'm the owner of a brand new Galaxy Tab, and I love it... so many things u r able to do with it :D except a view things... but VLC will close this gap... thx to all, who r working on VLC for android!!!!

Thank you for your work and a big thumbs up! Tried it out today on my Desire Z. It plays a test udp video stream flawlessy - i tried dozens of other players and none of them worked. Hoping for some GUI progress and audio soon :)

@daimadoshi85: what do you mean by VLC remote features ? HTTP interface ? VLC remote control interface ?

@Poulachon: HTTP live streaming (I guess receiving a live stream) will be available normally. We can also provide an SDK if some developers want to integrate VLC in their application (it will be a mix of C and Java code).

Just my opinion on the UI: the built-in video player (as well as most 3rd party players) has no file selection dialog. Instead they are run by selecting a file in the download section of the browser or in a file manager. I think the only UI required (at least for a beta, maybe even for a real release) is the usual play/pause and progress bar style skipping control.

Now that full HDMI capabilities are out, is it time for another status update? I hope that one will be able to use this player for high quality, high bitrate videos that we can smoothly push out to an HD TV. Currently, all 8 android players I have tested very high quality videos with are very jerky. With a custom kernel that utilizes the GPU that HTC left untapped, hopefully I will be pushing 1080 videos to a 42" screen with no problems. :)

I would like also to participate in a beta testing for android. My unit is currently HTC Mytouch 4G on Android 2.2. Questions/notes if not covered: I mainly have music videos on my phone in avi, flv formats. Will there be "Shuffle(random), repeat, and continuous play" option on settings? This would be great if I can load all my music videos and be able to play conintuously and random plays.

Patiently waiting, but please.. please... PLEASE... tell me that it's going to support chapter markings like the desktop player. I've got MP4s from instructional DVDs that preserved the chapters and it'd be a real pain to have to manually "guess" at what point in the videos a particular item starts vs jumping direct to the right chapter.

Hi,
Can we have some updates about the current dev state of VLC on android platform, many peoples are waiting for it since there is no comparable software on android devices, really a great app on win, linux and others so we wish to have a beta version soon please ?
I have the possibility to test it on many devices since i am a android phone seller that configures devices for clients.
thanks!

I have been using VLC for years!!!
i love the program, I have been using it in
windows for quite a few years
and then i moved to linux, and vlc
was one of the first programs i thought of
to download in install :D
I would also love to test VLC for android
I have the LG P500H Running P509 Rom
Android 2.2

I have used and loved VLC for years. Will this app play .ISO files like its big brothers do (Linux, win)? I am waiting to buy an Android tablet (eee Transformer) but I am stalling until I can watch .ISO movies. If I/we could get a definitive answer on .ISO compatibility and an updated time line I would be very much appreciative. Thanks for all of you hard work, it does not go unnoticed.

Can't wait much longer for this and the gingerbread update! My desire hd will be a perfect phone (I assume) once I have both. Any news at all? Thanks for all your hard work on this, wish I could help in done way. Will donate as soon as I have funds...

Recently bought an Archos 70 android. Loving it, and although the video feature is pretty good, there are still some codecs it can't use, and consequently Im realy looking forward to the VLC player becoming available!! Cant wait, but if somethings worth having its worth waiting for. Dont rush, something on a par with the PC VLC player would be very nice indeed thank you very much!!

Kudos for all the good work.
I have a question. There is a media player that supports almost all formats (short of good MKV support) for Android since almost 1 year now. It's called Rock Player and it is indeed free to use. You have to live with a red "R" up at the top left corner of the screen for the free version but thats all.
My question is as follows. Why make it look like you guys are reinventing the wheel?
I have and will continue to support VLC but im just puzzled at what the big problem is with making something thats already out there. :S
Keep up the good work guys.
Cheers!

I saw the fascinating app demo pic above.
But in my situation, I did the exact thing following HOWTO compile manual.
And the get the JNI file libvlcjni.so, and get the vlc.apk file.
And successful deployed into my HTC,

However, when I run the app, it always shows the info of "not implemented".

Have had a Motorola Xoom for about 6 weeks and am very keen to see the VLC player available for this system. I use your player on my PC and it is the BEST on the market.
Keep up the good work, you have a dedicated user base out here just dying to get the Android apk version

hello, can't wait for vlc player to be released. I will be first to offer my service anytime to trial any beta system. Currently running 3.2 android on Asus eee Pad Transformer. vlc on my pc a god send and greates discovery since slice bread and contact lenses.

Will VLC for android play movies within ISO files? A major reason for me getting an Asus Transformer Prime was to watch movies while away from home. I'm happy to copy my ISOs to some SD Cards but I cant be bothered with converting to a lesser format.
Any chance of a version soon which will play ISOs? There's a market for an ISO only version of VLC as as far as I can tell no current player will cope with them.

Thank you SO much for the update. Like so many others I have been waiting for the Android release of VLC. Have a rooted Nook Color that I would love to test it on. Also have an HTC HD2 running both Windows 6.5 and Androids Ice cream that I can test it on.